Secret of the Heart
by PhantasyDreamer
Summary: Yumi thought her friendship with Ulrich was going good until he started dating Sissy. What happens when Ulrich convinces Sissy to join their group? Will rivalry and sparks fly? And how will Yumi be able to cope with it? YxU
1. The Ultimate Decision

_PhantasyDreamer: Hey this is my first Code Lyoko story. So go easy on me. I've watched the show for a year now and was just inspired lately to write a story about it. In this story Ulrich is the same age as Yumi, I don't like the fact that she is older. Even though he is shorter, I still think he should have been older. That's how I see it. Well, to sum it all up, let's just say that Ulrich repeated a grade and that is why he is in the same grade as Jeremy and Odd. This story also contains a lot of action/adventure but I couldn't put three genres in there. Read and Review! I hope you enjoy it._

_Secret of the Heart_

_Chapter 1: The Ultimate Decision_

"You did what JEREMY!" Aelita screamed looking at him strangely, "What were you thinking?"

Jeremy looked at Aelita as if she was crazy. What was wrong with her? He was only trying to help out a friend and her behavior was clearly one that surprised him. He didn't know what to do but he was clearly not expecting this from Aelita.

"Aelita, you have to understand that this was Ulrich's wish." he stated bowing his head while stuffing his hands in his brown pants pocket.

He stood next to her as she watched him seriously. She brushed her short pink hair a little trying to understand why Jeremy had did what he had done. The two children were standing outside of the cafeteria on the side of the steps. Aelita sat down on the steps while Jeremy stood next to her. The young girl wore a pink long sleeve shirt that had a hood on the back of it. A dark maroon jumper went over the shirt coming down two inches above her knees. She also wore dark pink flat boots that went a little below her knees and on the ends of the boots were white flaps which had a split in two.

"I'm sorry Aelita, but this is for the best." Jeremy smirked trying to make her feel better by placing his right hand on her shoulder.

Aelita looked up at him with a sad expression and then replied, "I guess so then."

"Hey now, what are you two love birds up to?" a male voice replied interrupting their conversation.

They both looked up to see Odd, a young boy with blond hair that lay up in the air; his hair had a small purple patch in the front of his head. He smiled at them teasingly. He wore a purple pant that was dark purple on the right leg and light on the other. Also a dark purple long sleeve shirt with a v-neck that stopped a little above his pants, it showed the light purple shirt he had underneath clearly showing his yellow belt. He also wore yellow shoes.

"So, what seems to be the problem Aelita? The water works seem to tell me something." he sneered making her laugh a little.

"It's nothing." Jeremy frowned trying to avoid the subject.

"Jeremy, Odd needs to know, we all need to know." she sighed getting off of the steps.

She walked down the steps and stood next to Odd taping him lightly on the shoulder while wiping away her tears. She let out a deep sigh before she spoke.

"Jeremy created a profile for Sissy, so now she can come to Lyoko with us." she sighed bowing her head.

"You mean like on a mission?" Odd asked folding his arms across his chest as he received a nod from Aelita, "What? What were you thinking Einstein?"

"Look, Ulrich made me do it." Jeremy grimed bowing his head in shame, his blond bangs partially covered his glasses.

Odd sighed turning his attention to two teens that were walking by. It was Yumi and William, two teen that were in different classes from them. Although she was in a higher form than them she was still friends with them and would travel countless times with them to Lyoko.

"Does Yumi know?" he asked waving to her.

"I'm afraid to tell her. I just want Ulrich to do that." Jeremy sighed looked at Yumi as she passed by.

"Yeah, he's the best one to do it for sure. But I know one thing this is not going to be pretty." Odd grinned sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"I know."

Aelita looked at her friends as she remained silent.

'_Maybe this isn't such a bad idea,'_ she thought seriously looking at the two boys in front of her, _'who knows we just may need the help.'_

"I'll see you guys later." Aelita replied waving to the two boys.

"Where are you going?" Jeremy asked looking at her strangely.

"Yumi wants to talk to me before class, so I have to meet her now." she waved running away with smiles.

The two boys nodded in agreement to her response. Jeremy took the time to explain to Odd when Aelita was gone, the main reason Ulrich had asked him to make a profile. He told him that Ulrich came to him a few days ago, telling him that he wanted Sissy to be apart of their group. And since they were dating he didn't want to keep any secrets from her, so he told her about Lyoko.

"So, what did he threaten you with?" Odd asked raising his eyebrows mysteriously.

"He said he would tell Aelita my secret."

Odd paused a minute before laughing.

"That shouldn't be too bad, you know. It isn't as if it's a secret that you like Aelita."

"WHAT! Who told you that?" Jeremy yelled clutching his shirt.

"Easy Einstein," Odd smirked raising his hands in defense as Jeremy slowly loosed his collar, "you actually make it quite obvious."

'_I do?'_ he thought looking at him and then sighing in defeat.

"Okay, maybe you're right." he said looking down at the ground.

They paused for a moment before Odd spoke.

"So Jeremy, do you think you're ready for the physics exam in Mrs. Hertz class today?" Odd smirked, placing a hand on his shoulder while trying to brighten up the mood.

"As ready as I can be." he smiled as they both walked to their classroom, "Are you?"

"Are you kidding me? I'm just gonna breeze through it."

Jeremy just smiled away as they walked to class.

"I hope so Odd, I really hope so."

_URLRICH'S DORM ROOM_

It was late in the afternoon, mostly after two when Ulrich made his way out of his dorm room leaving Odd to sleep on his separate bed. He had a class but had fallen asleep unexpectedly and Ulrich decided not to bother him. Ulrich on the other hand, had a class in a few minutes and was just getting his books to leave for it. He closed the door slowly as he saw a tall raven hair girl walk up in his direction.

"Oh, Ulrich dear." she replied in her squeaky voice, while smiling, "Are we still on for our date tomorrow?"

"Yeah Sissy we're still on." he smiled as she quickly gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

"Okay, well don't be late. I'm really looking forward to it." she walked away smiling vibrantly.

He stood still staring down the hallway where she had just disappeared to. They hadn't been dating very long, mostly a week but for some reason Ulrich was beginning to see Sissy as a different person. Not as the annoying brat she usually was. But as a nice, warm and gentle person almost like Yumi, but that was another issue. He just felt happier around her now and after going out with her for a while he felt like he was finally over Yumi. As if on cue a certain someone cleared its throat behind him causing him to turn around sharply.

"Y-Yumi." he whispered stuttering a little while narrowing his eyes.

She stared at him inquisitively wondering what was going on. After all she had just caught Sissy kissing him and that was nothing she was accustom to seeing. She shoved her hands into her pants and looked at him strangely. She couldn't believe what she saw that she wanted to cry but decided not to do so in front of him. It was weird, seeing Ulrich being so nice to Sissy after hating her so much. But she realized things change and so do people.

Yumi had short black hair that extended to her neck. It was short in the front coming to her chin. She wore a long black sleeve turtle neck shirt that showed a portion of her stomach and navel. A long black jeans pant and gray dark flat boots finished off her look. She gazed at him wondering what to say or do but finally decided she should just get to the point and find out what was really going on.

"So, what's going on with you and Sissy?" she frowned, her voice almost a whisper.

"Nothing really, w-we're just friends." he replied sternly stuffing his left hand in his pocket.

She walked up a little closer towards him while he looked at her seriously. Being a few inches taller than him he had to look up towards her. She tried to read his eyes but it was very hard to do so. Urlich had short brown hair that flared up a bit and dark eyes. He wore a lime green shirt with a dark green jacket over it along with a dark green kaki pants with pockets on the lower ends of it. He sighed as if trying to avoid further questions.

"I don't understand Ulrich." she replied sadly, "A-Are you two dating?"

"Look, I don't think there should be a problem," he replied holding the books in his right hand firmly, "I haven't told you anything about you and William."

She laughed a little startling him while pushing back a few strands of her hair.

"Ha Ulrich, William and I are not-" she started but he immediately interrupted her.

"You don't have to explain anything to me, I already know."

She looked at him shock. What did he know? To her knowledge William and she were just friends. But it seemed that Ulrich thought otherwise. She didn't know what was going on in his head but for some reason he was acting so cold towards her and she didn't know what she did wrong. She remained silent as he stared at her standing still. The silence it the hallway was so thick that even a pin could be heard from a mile away. Yumi forced a smile on her face trying to prevent the tears that were about to fall.

"Just tell me one thing." she replied whispering some more taking him by surprise, "Did you ask Jeremy to create a profile for Sissy?"

"Yeah." he simply shrugged.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to lie to her and I want to spend more time with her." he stated getting a little angry that she was questioning him about it. He gave her a slight wave before speaking, "Listen I have to go to class now. See you around sometime."

He walked away not receiving a response from her. For a minute he turned around quickly and she was still standing there looking at him. He immediately turned back around and continued to walk away.

'_Why does she even care she has William? Does she want to ruin my life anymore than she already has?'_ he thought holding his books tightly to his side.

Yumi stood still as she watched him walk away.

"Ulrich." she whispered as he drifted out of sight.

_POOL ROOM_

Yumi sat on the ledge of the swimming pool meditating on what had just happened a few hours ago. After her class she immediately left and headed to the pool room. She hadn't seen Jeremy, Odd or Aelita since this morning but she didn't mind at all since she didn't want them to ask her why she was so sad.

She was really confused. How could Ulrich like Sissy now after hating her so much? It was strange and weird and she clearly didn't know what to do. But what made her even angrier was that he had convinced Jeremy to allow Sissy to join them on Lyoko. What was up with that? Even though the girl wanted to be apart of their group there was no reason to include her into their Lyoko trips. Lyoko, the virtual place where she and her friends traveled to was her escape from reality.

'_I don't know what's going on anymore.'_ she thought splashing her feet in the pool, _'I don't even understand what's going on either with Ulrich? It's like he's a different person and I'm on a separate planet from him.'_

She sighed as a silent tear slipped down her cheek as she bowed her head. The pool room was filled with students jumping and splashing around in the water but she barely seemed to notice. She was more concentrating on her predicament. Only a few minutes had passed by since she was sitting alone, on the edge sulking when she heard a snicker from some students.

She slowly looked up to see Ulrich and Sissy playing in the pool; right in front of her. Ulrich wore green trunks while Sissy wore a light pink bathing suit. Just what she needed to make her feel even worse than she already felt. She sighed as she got off the ledge and dove into the water below. Just a little swim might help her forget about what Ulrich had said. The cold water breezed itself through her skin making her shiver a little and her black one piece bathing suit, didn't make it any better either. She dove deeper into the water as if not caring about air but just searching for some place to escape to.

'_Maybe I'm not meant to be with Ulrich,'_ she thought seeing them a far off while still underwater, _'I'll just have to accept it, I guess.'_

She turned away from them and continued to dive deeper into the deeper part of the pool. She was almost at the bottom when she couldn't hold her breath any longer. She rushed up to the surface, gasping for air. Her short hair stuck to her face as she brushed it back a little. She swam over to the edge on the other side, a few feet from where she was sitting. As soon as she reached the edge, she leaned her hand on the ground and looked at the two teens playing happily. Sissy was ducking Ulrich underwater while he splashed water in her face. They looked so happy and Yumi bit her lip trying to fight the sad feeling that was dawning on her. Turning around she sighed as she struggled to get out of the pool.

"Need some help." a male voice replied breaking her out of her trance.

"Sure." she gazed at him while taking his hand that was stretched out to her, "Thanks William."

She smiled as she got out of the pool and grabbed a white towel from the stack. Wrapping it around her waist she stood still for a while trying not to let William see that she was sad but unfortunately for her he had already seen her sadden expression and her tears.

"They both look so happy. What a cute couple they make." he replied as if teasing her while looking at Ulrich and Sissy playing in the water.

"Yeah."

"Are you alright?" he asked touching her hand.

She looked at him skeptically wondering what he was thinking. She slowly pulled her hand out of his grasp. But before he could ask her what was wrong her cell phone rang.

"Hello."

"Yumi, meet me at the factory immediately. I'm going to finish setting up Sissy's profile now." Jeremy replied hastily while she frowned at his statement, "If you see Ulrich, could you tell him to get Sissy here immediately?"

"Okay, I'll be there. But you'll have to call Ulrich yourself." she frowned as she hung up her cell phone not waiting for a response.

William looked at her and she just smiled.

"I have to go William." she waved as she rushed to the door, "See you later."

_AT THE FACTORY_

Jeremy sat in front of the interface that shows the layout areas for the virtual world, Lyoko. The five children stood together along with their newly member Sissy. She was so excited about finally being able to join Ulrich's group and more importantly be closer to him. Yumi stood in the far corner of the room sulking with her arms folding. Odd was next to her mumbling something about Sissy while Aelita stood next to Jeremy. Sissy and Ulrich stood a few inches away from each other right behind Aelita and Jeremy.

Jeremy typed furiously at the keys on the keyboard entering the last necessary codes needed to finish building Sissy's profile. This was the first time he had ever done this but was hoping it would work. He did his research as usual gathering all the information needed to do this and everything seemed okay for now.

"So, are you ready Sissy?" Jeremy asked giving her a slight smirk.

"Well, I guess so." she smiled placing one hand on her hip.

"Okay now head to the scanner room and you too Ulrich," he replied typing up on the keyboard while bringing up her user card on the screen, "this is just a test run to see if this thing really works so be on the look out for monsters just to be sure."

"Okay Jeremy. Let's go Sissy." Ulrich replied taking her hand and walking into the elevator.

He refused to look at Yumi as he the elevator closed behind them. It hummed loudly heading down to the last floor. As soon as they were out of sight the others spoke.

"I don't like this one bit Jeremy." Odd replied coming up closer towards him. Jeremy looked at him and nodded.

"I know Odd but this was Ulrich's idea and he assured me that Sissy would keep this to herself no matter how much she may be interrogated." he smirked getting the process ready to start.

He adjusted his headphone raking his blond hair in the process and pulling the microphone closer to his mouth. He eyed Yumi in the corner of the room who was still sulking with one foot on the wall and the other on the floor. Aelita stood next to Odd eyeing Jeremy. At least he was doing something nice for a friend. She turned her attention to Yumi who still had an angry look on her face. It was nice indeed that he was helping out a friend but it was also breaking up another friendship.

'_I hope those two can get along once again.'_ she thought frowning a bit.

"Hopefully she keeps the trips to Lyoko a secret," Aelita smiled placing her hand on the hip, "we wouldn't want her to accidentally tell her father now."

"Yeah." they all replied simultaneously.

"But what about her friends? What will they think when they see here hanging out with us?" Yumi asked still frowning.

There was silence in the air. They all knew that trouble may start for sure but hopefully Ulrich and Sissy would come up with some lame excuse to not cause further suspicion. Hopefully…

"Let's just hope she's fall in a ditch somewhere in Lyoko." Odd smirked laughing loudly breaking the silence.

"I'd pay to see that." Yumi smiled brighten up a bit. Odd sure knew how to make her laugh.

"I'll start the process now." he replied laughing a little, "Sissy and Ulrich get into the scanner now. I'm sending you two to the forest region. Ulrich now is your chance to help Sissy use her powers."

"_No problem." he replied from below._

-------------

Ulrich and Sissy paused for a while looking at the three scanners before them. Sissy let out a deep sigh as if scared of what she was going to face. She looked at Ulrich who gave her a warm smile. She returned it.

'_Here goes nothing.'_ she thought.

The two teens each walked into a separate tube like scanner. The door closed immediately behind them as soon as they turned around waiting for the process to begin.

"_Scanner Ulrich! Scanner Sissy!" Jeremy yelled as the two teens began to rise in the machine as the scanner scanned their bodies._

"_Transfer Ulrich! Transfer Sissy!" heavy wind rushed against their faces pushing their hair high in the air. _

"_Virtualization!"_

Ulrich and Sissy felt a floating sensation around their body as they were being materialized into the virtual world. As soon as their bodies were materialized they fell onto the floor, Ulrich on his feet and Sissy on her bottom.

"Ow!" Sissy yelled rubbing her leg, "Hey I wasn't expecting that kind of landing."

She smirked a little making Ulrich smile.

"Well you're going to have to get used to it." he replied helping her up.

"_Did you two make it alright?" Jeremy asked from above._

"Yeah," Ulrich replied looking around at the scenery.

-------------

Jeremy typed away above as a red exclamation mark came up on the screen. He held his mouth open in shock.

"What is it Jeremy?" Odd asked wondering what the beeping noise on the screen meant.

"Oh no," he said as if in shock, "X.A.N.A's attacking."

_Well tell me what you think this was my first Code Lyoko fic and I would like to hear your comments. Please no flames. Just a thought. Anyone every wonder why X.A.N.A is spelt like this instead of ZANA? I was surprised when I found out but I guess it's an acronym for something. And I also thought Yumi would be spelt Umi since it's pronounced that way and Ulrich being spelt U-l-r-i-c-h instead of Ulrick. Weird huh? I guess they have silent letters in their names? Well, that's just my thought, I've babbled enough on my first chapter. Ciao and don't forget to review. _

_PhantasyDreamer_


	2. New Powers

_PhantasyDreamer: Hey I'm back! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year and all the rest. I'm sorry for the late update but things just got in the way. Just one thought. In the reviews, I realized that some of you thought that this was a Sissy and Ulrich story. But I'm sorry to disappoint you because it isn't. It's a Yumi and Ulrich story. I'm so sorry that you got mislead but I thought I made it clear in the summary but I guess I was wrong. I know I might lose some reviews but I just wanted to say that. Anyway, I'll stop talking now so you all can read the story. Enjoy!_

_Secret of the Heart_

_Chapter 2: New Powers_

_Last time: Jeremy typed away above as a red exclamation mark came up on the screen. He held his mouth open in shock. _

"_What is it Jeremy?" Odd asked wondering what the beeping noise on the screen meant._

"_Oh no," he said as if in shock, "X.A.N.A's attacking."_

_The story continues…_

"What's the problem?" Aelita asked looking intently at the screen, "Have you discovered what he's attacking yet?"

"No I haven't." he looked at the three teens behind him, "You three head to the scanner room now!"

They all nodded in response to his statement and walked towards the door waiting until the door of the elevator opened. Yumi stood on the left while Odd stood on the right and Aelita stood in the middle. As soon as the doors shut, Odd immediately pushed the red button which caused the elevator to move down one floor. Jeremy looked back at the screen again.

'_X.A.N.A. sure knows how to give me a headache.' _he thought adjusting his glasses while continuing to type on the keyboard.

-------------

Ulrich looked around at the scenery which was the forest region. Tall trees waved high above them as the green grassy ground engulf everything else. They were a far distance from a neutral tower and if X.A.N.A was planning to attack they would have their hands full. Especially since Sissy barely knew what or how to use her powers. He smiled at her warmly while she returned the smile. Sighing he looked up in the air.

"Hey Jeremy, what's that you were saying a minute ago?" he asked looking at Sissy who had a weird look on her face.

"_X.A.N.A's launched an attack. I've sent the others to come out and help but I haven't quite figured out what he's attacking yet." Jeremy replied from above._

"Do you think that's wise? I mean since we don't know what he's attacking?" he asked touching his sword at his side.

"_I have no choice Ulrich. It's risky but I have to take the chance," he stated seriously, "in the meantime I'll tell you Sissy's powers."_

"Okay." he sighed shrugging to the uneasy feeling he was getting.

"I have powers?" Sissy asked as if in shock, "Wow! This Lyoko thing is even better than I thought!"

_Jeremy suppressed a smile from above adjusting his microphone once again._

"_Okay Sissy, your two powers are the celestial sniper and the lightning rod." he explained, "The celestial sniper is a specially designed bow and arrow that can hit X.A.N.A's monsters with great accuracy. Also the lightning rod is a retractable rod that releases electrical impulses that pack a punch." _

"Seems like Sissy's powers are even better than ours." Ulrich replied laughing a little.

"I guess so." she giggled.

"_Well, I wouldn't say that, it's just different to put it mildly." Jeremy chuckled, "Oh, oh I have bad news you guys, hornets at four o'clock!"_

"Hornets!" Sissy echoed looking to the sky.

The two teens looked up to see four hornets flying above them. The hornets looked like big brown giant bee like creatures with a stinger on the end of its body. It held X.A.N.A's symbol, which is an eye like design on the top of its head. The four hornets flew down rapidly at them while Sissy stood still in shock not knowing what to do. Ulrich ran in front of her holding his sword firmly in his hands.

He wore a yellow headband that was tied in a knot behind his head which raked his short brown hair slightly. A yellow designed shirt that had a dark brown patterned designed jacket like shirt that came over the shirt inside. It was very low in the front coming to his stomach revealing the yellow designed shirt underneath. He also wore dark brown tights along with long sleeve brown gloves that exposed his fingers. On his feet laid brown sandals and a metallic brace like embodiment around his shin bone and a green like waist band. He stood in front of Sissy protectively eyeing the monsters seriously.

"Let me handle this Sissy." he replied confidently deflecting the attacks with his sword.

"Okay." she stated sounding a bit frightened.

Ulrich jumped high into the air knocking two of the hornets out with his sword. The impact of the blade caused the hornets to crumble into bits, slowly disappearing from the virtual world. He looked in Sissy's direction to see the other two hornets heading straight towards her.

'_Sissy!'_ he thought looking at her as they zoned in on her like she was a target.

She closed her eyes in shock not knowing what to do, raising her hand in an attempt to stop the attack she squirmed slowly.

"Super sprint!" he screamed as he rushed in front of her blocking the attack.

His sword reflected one of the attacks and hit one of the hornets leaving the other one alone. Realizing it was alone, it flew away. Ulrich smirked at his victory, he had defeated them alone. He looked at Sissy who held a bewildered look on her face.

"Sissy, are you alright?" Ulrich asked shaking her hand lightly.

After realizing what was going on she gave him a weak smirk, still feeling a bit scared.

"Don't worry Sissy, it isn't as scary as you think." he smirked trying to comfort her.

"I know it's just that I didn't expect it to be like this." she looked at him sadly.

"Oh don't worry you'll get use to it soon enough."

"_Are you two okay down there?" _the young blond questioned sounding a bit frightened.

"Just dandy Jeremy." he smirked at Sissy who just frowned, "When are the others coming? I could really use the help. Sissy's not as confident as I thought she would be."

He gazed at her putting on the nicest smile he could salvage. But she just held an evil frown. Ulrich felt bad, he didn't mean anything by it but he just thought she wouldn't be so frightened. After all she was so determined and acted so brave all the time. He just assumed that she wouldn't get so scared. But could you blame her? This was all new to her and slowly he realized that she would handle it a little different from the others of course since they were accustomed to it. Sissy gazed at Ulrich wondering why he had said that.

'_How dare he?'_ she thought frowning.

"I am too," she retort back at him feeling a little angry by his comment, "I'll show you Ulrich, just how confident I can be."

He sighed a little, deciding not to say anything further that would make her even more mad.

'_Oh what have I done now?'_

Sissy grabbed her golden bow from behind her back, which was laid across the big pink bow that was strapped below her bust coming down to her stomach. She had listened to every detailed instruction that Jeremy had given her about her weapons and decided to try it out now more than ever. At least now she could show Ulrich for sure that she was brave and confident. Ulrich looked up immediately to see a mega tank roll up towards them along with the lonely hornet. Sissy was too busy fiddling with her bow and arrow to realize what was going on.

Ulrich watched in horror as the round metallic ball monster widened itself showing off X.A.N.A.'s eye like symbol. It started to glow slowly aiming at its target…Sissy. The monster let loose its beam and Ulrich ran straight towards Sissy pushing her out of the way while getting hit by the laser in the process. He winched in pain at the impact on his shoulder. Electrical sparks could be seen around the area as he touched it a little. Sissy got up and rushed to his side.

"Ulrich, are you alright!" she screamed at him while he just brushed himself off standing firmly as he looked at the monster, "You could have been killed!"

"I'm fine Sissy," he stated in a monotone accent, "I can't get kill in Lyoko unless…well that's not the point. Remember when I told you about life points?"

He asked and she just nodded a yes.

"Well, I'll just lose them and if I lose them all, then I go back to the real world."

She smiled as she finally understood what was going on.

She turned her attention back to the mega tank that had rolled back a few yards from them. It came back closer shooting a high beam laser at them as the lonely hornet set its sight on Ulrich. The two teens ran out of the way and hid behind a nearby tree. Sissy turned to Ulrich who was leaning on the tree bark while she stood next to him, trying to suppress her smile but she couldn't help it. He looked so cute in his uniform or adorable was more the word. She felt a little happy that she was finally dating him after all her years of dreaming. It had finally come true and Ulrich was now at last her boyfriend. She couldn't express how exciting it was to be on Lyoko with him, finally being accepted into his group, although Yumi was not too happy about it.

'_Yumi.'_ she thought frowning, _'Wait a minute I have more important things to think about than her. Like that giant ball out there, how am I going to beat it and prove to Ulrich that I'm brave?'_

She sighed as it continued to shoot lasers at them. It was now or never, she had to do something and besides that they had to wait on the others. To her, she thought that she might as well learn to use her powers now before she got embarrassed in front of his friends. She moved from behind the tree and stood right in front of the monster ignoring Ulrich's pleads of losing life points. Gazing at it sternly, she took out her bow and arrow again and aimed at the target. She zoned in on her target holding the small arrows firmly and then fired.

"Sniper arrow!" she yelled as two small arrows were released.

The two arrows traveled to the monster slowly and then stretched out into large arrows. One hit the mega tank right on its symbol and the other missed and hit Ulrich instead, right on the knee.

"Hey watch it!" he snapped.

"Sorry I'm just getting use to it." she forced a smile as she looked up to see the lonely hornet once again.

'_Boy this thing won't give up now will it?'_

The hornet buzzed around them shooting lasers violently, it missed Sissy a few yards and went straight for Ulrich. It was as if the creature had a special hatred for the boy but it made sure that Ulrich was the one it was really after. It fired a laser and hit Ulrich on his leg. Slowly a small ice like box began to form around his leg making it impossible for him to move. He looked up at creature as it got ready to hit him. It fired again knocking his sword out of his hand. He frowned, there was nothing he could do but wait for impact.

"Sniper arrow!" Sissy yelled once again firing an arrow but unfortunately missed.

The hornet fired a heavy laser at her, knocking her to the floor. She lay on the grass in pain.

"Sissy!"

_KADIC ACADEMY_

Two young boys stood outside in the hall speaking softly to each other. It was still high afternoon, about five o'clock now and things were looking as normal as possible. But unfortunately, the two boys were angry about something or a particular someone mainly because they couldn't get their way. The raven hair boy with glasses named Herb was speaking very softly to his friend Nicholas. They were alone discussing something that matter very much to them.

"...And then she said she doesn't want to be friends with me anymore." Herb replied looking rather sad.

"Are you sure Sissy would say such a thing?" the blond boy asked folding his arms across his chest.

"Yes Nicholas, I'm sure." he muttered looking around to see if anyone was listening, "Ever since she started dating that loser, Ulrich she doesn't speak to me or even acknowledge my presence. She just cares about him and him alone."

"What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know." he sighed in defeat.

They remained silent as an elderly man approached them looking as serious as possible. He had short grayish hair, a mustache and a beard. He wore a dark brown business suit with a light brown vest like shirt over the white shirt and tie underneath along with black shoes. He waved to students passing by as he proceeded closer towards the two boys. He looked very serious as if mad about something.

"Have you two boys seen Sissy?" he asked sternly.

"No, I haven't principal Delmas." Nicholas smiled wearily.

'_I bet they're in Ulrich's dorm room.' _Herb thought angrily, feeling jealousy take over his conscience.

The principal looked at them in disbelief. For some reason he wasn't too convinced since he knew his daughter would usually hang out with them. He stared at Herb and could see the anger in his eyes. Something was not right and he was determined to find out what it was.

"That's strange," the principal said tapping his chin in thought, "I wonder where she could be? I have to take her to her dentist appointment and I was sure she would be here with you two. Well, since she's not here, I guess I will have to keep looking then."

He smiled as he waved to them turning to leave but before he could get far Herb stopped him.

"I think I know where she is."

"You do?" he looked at the young boy skeptically.

"She's with Ulrich in his room."

_AT THE FACTORY_

Jeremy continued to stare at the computer screen as many dialog boxes popped up onto the desktop of the computer. He tried everything he knew but still there was no chance of him finding out what X.A.N.A was doing.

'_I gotta find out what X.A.N.A's up to, it's our only hope.' _he thought staring at the screen, _'Oh no!'_

He looked at the screen in shock. He typed in a few codes and then sighed. He composed himself and started the virtualization process. At least now that, that simply problem was cleared up he could get the guys to Lyoko safely. The only other problem he had was to figure out what X.A.N.A was attacking.

"You guys ready down there?"

"_As ready as we can be Jeremy." Yumi replied hastily from below. _

"Okay here we go." he smirked bringing up their profile cards.

"Scanner Odd! Scanner Yumi! Scanner Aelita!" he replied as the three teens began to rise in the machines below as the scanner scanned their bodies.

"Transfer Odd! Transfer Yumi! Transfer Aelita!" heavy wind rushed against their faces pushing their hair high in the air.

"Virtualization!"

-------------

The hornet came closer towards Sissy and Ulrich, gathering power in a red glow of light as it got ready to strike them at any minute. Sissy didn't know what to do. She had already tried using her powers and had hurt Ulrich in the process. Now his right leg was trapped in some type of ice box. He squirmed as he waiting for the impact of the laser on his body.

"Laser arrow!" came a shout as a small arrow hit the hornet right in the symbol.

Turning around they looked up to see the three other teens standing behind them. Odd smiled away as he lowered his hand. Sissy slowly got off of the grass and looked at him.

"It's about time you guys got here." Ulrich smirked as he turned to his friends picking up his sword while eyeing Yumi with a frown, he turned back to Odd and Aelita, "What took you guys so long?"

"Jeremy had a slight bug to fix with the scanners." Odd replied hastily.

"_That's right. Well, the activated tower is in the ice sector," Jeremy stated from above, "I'll materialize the rides now! There's a neutral tower due east, go there and then head to the ice sector."_

"Right!" Odd replied waiting for his ride to arrive.

Three rides were materialized into the virtual world, Lyoko. The overboard which was a purplish hover board that was claimed as Odd's transport, the over wing, a silver scooter like vehicle with a circular platform for standing on, it was known as Yumi's transport and finally the over bike which was a motorbike with one big wheel, it was known as Ulrich's ride. Each teen hopped aboard their transport. Sissy jumped onto Ulrich's bike with him while Aelita climbed onto the over wing with Yumi.

The five teens traveled in silence on their vehicles to the neutral tower that glowed blue leaving a few monsters behind. They entered through it and came out in the ice section. Everything in this sector was white, white ice filling everywhere. They all stopped for a minute when they came out of the neutral tower.

"_The activated tower is just a far off to the north. Hurry up and get Aelita to it." Jeremy replied sternly. _

Yumi got off of her over wing upset leaving Aelita behind. For a moment she thought she was dreaming but she couldn't believe what she had just seen. If she had paid more attention in the beginning she would have realized what Jeremy had done.

"Jeremy what's the meaning of this!" she yelled looking up at the dark sky while the others turn to her.

"_What's the matter Yumi?" he asked nervously._

"How dare you create Sissy's outfit like mine!" she demanded placing her hand on her hips, "What is she my twin! You change this now you hear! Change it now!"

Sissy gasped as she looked at the uniform she was wearing and then at what Yumi was wearing. She couldn't believe she didn't notice before.

Yumi wore a black and red kimono _(I don't know the right name, I think this is it.) _shirt which was black on the right side and red on the left extending down to her hips. A big yellow material wrapped around her lower bust and waist and into a sideways bow in the back along with a small red string dangling tightly around the bow. She also wore one inch long black boots that came up above her knees while a metallic brace attached around her shin bone above the boots showing off her red tights. White stylish gloves accompanied the outfit; although the gloves were stylish they were very long and they covered her entire arm expect her fingers. The gloves just wrapped around her palm letting her fingers run free. A portion of her short hair was pulled back in a small ponytail leaving the remainder of her hair down which showed off her neck while a white mask draped over her face. She also wore red mascara, red blush and red lipstick on her upper lip.

Sissy's outfit looked exactly the same except that she wore light purple and black instead of red and black. Her bow was fuchsia with a white string around it and she wore light purple tights. Her hair was up in a high ponytail and she wore the same white mask like Yumi did along with the makeup. Yumi gazed at Ulrich who just frowned at her.

"That's not an issue now." Ulrich stated sternly touching his sword.

"You bet it is." she frowned folding her arms.

"_I'm sorry Yumi but I didn't have much time to be creative and since it was last minute, I kinda borrowed some of your codes." _

"Can we talk about this later?" Ulrich asked getting annoyed; Yumi just looked at him with a serious frown telling him to shut up.

"Humph."

Before anyone else could say anything two big crabs and four blocks came rushing in their direction. Ulrich sped on his bike along with Sissy and headed straight towards one of the crabs while dodging bullets from the other monsters at the same time. He rode under one of the crabs and used his sword to cut the middle of it. Immediately the crab busted into bits.

Odd flew on his hover board dodging the monsters as well and shooting many laser arrows at them. He fired six and two hit three blocks while Yumi who was now on her vehicle, rode the over wing close to him with Aelita hitting one block with her fans. They continued to travel to the activated tower which was just a few yards from them. They dodge bullets and soon made their way close to it. When they were almost there a new block fired a laser bullet and hit Ulrich's bike throwing Sissy and him to the floor with a loud thump. Odd threw a laser arrow at it and destroyed it. Ulrich stood on his feet with Sissy just a few meters behind him when he was hit by a laser from a crab.

"_Watch it Ulrich, you're down to ten life points."_

"Um…don't remind me Jeremy." he replied getting off the icy floor as the crab turned around to him.

"Ulrich look out!" Yumi yelled as she threw her fan and blast the crab out of the virtual world.

He looked back at her and smiled. Something he hadn't done to her in a while.

"Hey thanks Yum-" he started but was hit immediately by a hornet.

"Ulrich!" Sissy yelled rushing after him to see that he had disappeared.

They all looked at her in shock. Odd aimed at the hornet and sent two arrows at it blasting it to bits. Yumi gazed at her friends, except for Sissy because she knew what they had to do; they had to stop X.A.N.A no matter what.

"Listen, we have to get Aelita to the tower now before X.A.N.A. sends more monsters." Yumi replied hastily still on her over wing with Aelita.

Odd flew over to Sissy who was kneeling on the floor as if ready to cry. He stood still on the board holding a mysterious smirk.

'_She really likes Ulrich.'_ he thought tilting his head to the side like a confused puppy.

"Need a lift oh high and mighty one?" he asked with a smirk.

Sissy sighed as she looked up at the blond boy in front of her; reluctantly she graciously accepted his hand that was stretched out to her. Jumping onto the hover board she hung on tightly to him as they traveled closer towards the tower. They all stopped suddenly when they saw a block blocking their path on the ice bridge. It stretched out towards the tower. The ice formed in a large circular pattern where the tower stood. Quickly the teens flew over the bridge area on their rides when two blast were fired and knocked Yumi and Aelita off of the over wing. Odd and Sissy continued to fly on their transportation leaving Aelita and Yumi behind.

Aelita landed hard on the floor while Yumi flipped over and landed on her feet. She looked up at Odd and Sissy and smiled a little. Standing firmly on her feet with Aelita behind she looked up at three hornets that surround her, she smirked when Odd got rid of the block as she pulled out her Japanese fans.

"Aelita, stay close behind me." she replied sternly holding her fans tightly in her hands.

"Okay." she sighed hiding behind her.

The hornets fired lasers at Yumi but she deflected them with her fans. She threw them both and hit one of them. Odd was still flying around with Sissy clinging to his back as he dodged the blast from the third hornet's laser.

"Sissy hold on tight!" he yelled behind his back as he flew high into the air and began to spin downwards as he crossed his right hand to his left that was stretched out, aiming at the monster.

"Laser Arrow!" he yelled hitting one but unfortunately the other fired a laser and knocked him and Sissy off of their ride.

They both landed face first on the ice.

-------------

The door of the elevator creaked open as the young brown hair warrior made his way closer towards Jeremy. He smiled a little as he looked at the screen wondering if his friends were alright.

"Welcome back to the real world." Jeremy stated sarcastically.

"Yea, Yea, I can't believe I got knocked out so easily," he started shoving his hands in his pockets, "I was suppose to still be on Lyoko to help Sissy."

Jeremy remained silent, he himself was not too thrilled with the idea of Sissy being apart of their trips to Lyoko. He wondered what could have possessed Ulrich to suggest such a thing and blackmail him into doing it. Did he do it to make Yumi jealous or did he do it for another reason? Whatever the reason he did it for, Jeremy couldn't figure it out. He just didn't understand why.

"So how are they doing?" Ulrich asked breaking the silence.

"Good so far." he replied in a soft whisper, "Could you tell me again why Sissy's apart of our group?"

"I thought I told you already." the brown hair boy sighed trying to avoid the subject.

"Yes you did but I'm just wondering if you're doing this to make Yumi jealous." he replied back typing away on the computer.

He remained silent not knowing what to say or how to reply to that statement.

"Okay, maybe at first it started out that way but now I really like Sissy and I just wanted to make her feel welcome in our group. I also thought that it would be nice to give her what she always wanted."

"And that is?" Jeremy stopped typing and turned around to him.

"Being apart of our group."

Jeremy arched his eyebrow in amazement. Sissy wanted to be apart of their group? He thought about it much harder, that's why she would always act that way around them and teased them effortlessly. Ulrich let out an exasperated sigh and decided to exit the room.

"I'm heading to the scanner room, Sissy should be devirtualized anytime soon and I want to be there." he whispered with his head down as he went into the elevator not waiting for a response from Jeremy.

-------------

Yumi and Aelita ran as fast as they could with the tower right in sight. Yumi held her fans firmly and deflected the blast with it.

"Aelita, go quickly to the tower!" she yelled continuing to block attacks with her fan.

"Right!"

Meanwhile Odd and Sissy began to run towards them as well. Sissy held her bow and arrow firmly as she aimed at the hornet that was attacking Yumi. When it was in her sights she released the arrow.

"Sniper arrow!"

The arrow blasted the hornet and then made its way straight to Yumi. For some reason Sissy still didn't have full control of her powers yet and she was starting to make a fool of herself in front of Ulrich's friends. The arrow hit Yumi hard in her back causing her to fall flat on her face to the icy ground. Aelita stopped running from up ahead and headed back to aid her friend.

"Yumi!" she yelled trying to help her up but she refused.

"Aelita, go to the tower I'm fine." Yumi replied touching her back that held sparks on it.

She turned around and gave Sissy a hard glare while still on her knees. Sissy gasped almost dropping her golden bow.

"Sorry Yumi it was an accident."

"Yea, if you say so." she muttered softly so Sissy couldn't hear.

At the same time Odd walked up to Yumi helping her up with a smile. He could see that Yumi felt like hurting the girl real bad and he couldn't blame her. But he kept his thoughts to himself.

"Aelita move it, before the skipazoa shows up." Odd stated with Yumi's arm draped around his shoulder.

"Yes, I'm on it."

Aelita rushed up to the white tower that glowed red. She slowly touched it and disappeared through it.

"Jeremy Aelita's in the tower." Yumi said now standing up straight on her feet, "Have you figured out what X.A.N.A.'s up to?"

"_No I haven't yet, we'll just have to wait and see what happens when Aelita deactivates the tower." Jeremy stated from above. _

Yumi and Odd stood still next to each other as they waited for Aelita to finish deactivate the tower. They looked at Sissy who was having difficulty figuring out what the problem was with her weapon. She couldn't understand why it was continuing to hit the others when she was aiming it at the monster. Odd and Yumi began to laugh at little not willfully but because they had never seen Sissy act like that before, weird and unsure of herself.

"What are we suppose to do with the pest problem we have here?" Odd asked looking up at his raven hair friend who was a few inches taller than he was.

"Let's get rid of her." Yumi replied with her left hand on her hip.

The two looked at each other holding a mysterious smirk on their faces as they took out their weapon. Yumi taking out her fans while Odd aimed his hands getting ready to fire his arrows. He paused for a minute and looked back at Yumi.

"Maybe we should rethink this?" he asked about to laugh.

They gazed at each other and then back at Sissy.

"Nah!" they yelled simultaneously.

"Laser arrow!"

"Hiyah!"

The two teens yelled as they sent their powers straight towards her. Sissy was kneeling on the icy floor when she heard yelling. She looked up to see an arrow and a fan coming straight towards her. A loud earsplitting scream could be heard as it hit her and immediately she disappeared out of the virtual world. Odd and Yumi gave each other high five for the job well done. They smiled with glee at their victory. No monsters were in sight so they just had to wait until Jeremy was ready to devirtualized them but they just couldn't take the smile off of their faces.

"_You guys what just happened there?" Jeremy asked from above, "I don't see Sissy on the screen did a monster devirtualize her?"_

"Nah, we just decided to get rid of the pest problem we had." Odd smirked raking his hair in the process.

"_I don't think that was necessary you guys." he scold at them as if they were his children. _

Yumi and Odd just burst out laughing barely able to contain themselves.

-------------

Ulrich sat on a platform in the middle of the scanner room facing the three scanners. He stood up immediately as he heard the loud pounding sound of someone being returned back from the trip to Lyoko. The scanner opened where a bright yellow light could be seen. He gazed into it but saw no one. In an instant he took out his cell phone and dialed Jeremy's number.

"Jeremy we have a problem." he stated holding the phone close to his ear.

"_What is it?" Jeremy asked a bit agitated with Yumi and Odd._

"Sissy's not here!"

_Tell me what you think. I'm sorry it took me so long to finish but I had other things to do and I got writers' block for this chapter. But don't worry I'll finish the story as long as I'm alive and kicking. Don't forget to review, because I want to know what you think. Good or bad but if your response is really really bad, don't tell me. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and let Christ be the heart of your Christmas and new year!_

_Ciao._

_PhantasyDreamer_


	3. Big Problem

_PhantasyDreamer: Hey I'm back with another chapter. HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you guys like this one as much as I do. I forgot this the other times. I don't own Code Lyoko only my characters that I have not mentioned yet. Anyway, without further a due, chapter 3. Enjoy! _

_Secret of the Heart_

_Chapter 3: Big Problem _

_Last time: "Jeremy, we have a problem." he stated holding the phone close to his ear. _

"_What is it?" Jeremy asked a bit agitated with Yumi and Odd._

"_Sissy's not here!"_

_The story continues…_

Aelita walked slowly up to the platform that held X.A.N.A's circular eye like symbol. As she walked on it, it lit up. When she was in the middle, she floated up to the top of the tower where another eye like symbol stood. Her feet pressed gently on it as she stood still. She pressed her hand on the space and a clear graphical interface came up showing her name and the codes need to stop the activated tower.

_-------_

_AELITA_

_CODE_

_LYOKO_

_-------_

"Tower deactivated." she replied softly.

"_Good work Aelita, but we have a major problem here." he replied hastily._

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

_He let out a heavy sigh from above._

"_Sissy hasn't return to earth and I'm afraid we're in big trouble. It seems that X.A.N.A has trapped her somehow." he let out a sigh feeling fear take over him, "But I can't do anything about it now, since I have no idea where she is. In the meantime, I'll materialize you guys now."_

"_Materialization Odd! Materialization Yumi! Materialization Aelita!" he yelled as the three teens disappeared from the virtual world and back to earth. _

_KADIC ACADEMY_

The four teens headed back to the school while Yumi rushed home. It was already ten minutes to ten in the night and they were afraid of what might happen if anyone saw them since it was almost time for curfew. They sneaked off to their dorm rooms saying goodnight to each other and trying to brace themselves for the questions and shock in the morning. While everyone was sleeping in their dorm rooms, Jeremy found the opportunity to take an hours rest and then back onto the computer where he tried to find a way to figure out what X.A.N.A had done to Sissy.

Morning came almost too quickly for Jeremy and still he hadn't figured out everything of what X.A.N.A was up to. The only thing he knew was that Sissy was still somewhere on Lyoko, frightened or something. He shut off his computer and walked out of the room in his dark blue pajamas getting ready to take his morning bath before breakfast. As he made his way to the showers he met up with Ulrich and Odd who were standing outside of the door as if waiting on him.

"So did you figure out where X.A.N.A's holding Sissy?" Ulrich asked almost in a whisper feeling desperately worried.

"No, but I know she is somewhere on Lyoko for sure." he sighed with a loud yawn.

Odd smirked at his friend.

"Don't worry Einstein, a genius such as you can figure this out in no time." he replied trying to comfort him by touching his shoulder.

"Thanks Odd, I just hope the principal doesn't find out anytime soon." Jeremy sighed adjusting his glasses as they all headed through the door to take their showers.

_YUMI'S HOUSE_

Yumi turned in her bed as the bright sun light seek to blind her. She got up squinting her eyes as she threw her white sheet off of her body. Turning sideways on the bed she sat still putting her hands to her face. Yesterday felt like a dream to her seeing Ulrich and Sissy together. Although a day had passed and Sissy was still on Lyoko she still couldn't get over the fact that they were together. She couldn't understand how she could have missed that they were dating for a week. Shaking her head she looked at the clock and realized that it was seven o'clock. She quickly rushed to her bathroom and took a quick bath. When she was finished she dressed in her usual outfit and headed downstairs for breakfast.

"Good morning mom, dad." she smirked as she dropped down in the chair in front of her father and brother.

"Good morning dear." her mother smiled wearing an apron as she placed eggs in front of her.

Yumi smiled at her mother as she began to eat. Her mother had short black hair that was in a different style from hers, it stretched out towards her ears. She wore a pink long sleeve shirt and blue jeans pants along with a white apron that dangled around her neck coming to her waist.

"Yumi dear, I have something important I want to speak to you about." her father spoke sternly.

He had short black hair as well and small strands of beard. He wore a white shirt and dark black pants with a tie. Her mother, Ms. Ishiyama sat in between her husband and son waiting to hear what important news her husband had to say to his child.

"Yes dad." Yumi replied sweetly.

"I just want to know why you have been coming home so late every night?" he asked holding his Japanese sticks firmly in his hands, "I know I've spoke to you before on this but still I see no progress."

"Daddy, I've just been real busy with school and stuff and I was studying last night." she retorted.

"Really, then why when I called the school they told me they did not know where you were?" he asked, a hint of anger trailing in his voice.

She remained silent as she looked at him clearly not wanting to tell him the truth. It wasn't as if she didn't want to tell him but who would believe that she was really fighting an evil Artificial Intelligence in a virtual world. She sighed as she tried to think of an answer.

"Daddy, I can explain-" she started but was interrupted by her brother.

"She was out with her boyfriend Ulrich." he teased eyeing her mysteriously.

"Stop it Hiroki, he's not my boyfriend!" she yelled slamming her hand on the table as she got up wiping her mouth, "I'm sorry, can we talk about this later? I'm late for school as it is."

She said immediately as she exited the room.

"Yumi!" her father yelled but it was no use, she was already out of the door.

Yumi ran out of the house and down onto the sidewalk as fast as she could with her black book bag slinging around her back. She felt bad about the way her father was feeling about her lateness but she knew later she could get that figured out. But what bothered her more was what her brother had said about Ulrich being her boyfriend. She smiled a little, at one time in her life she wouldn't mind that happening but now it was never going to happen since he was with Sissy.

'_She was out with her boyfriend Ulrich.' _the thought ran over and over in her head, _'Why do I even care anymore when it's clear that he likes Sissy.' _

She continued to run as she made her way into the school gates. As soon as she was a few distance on the campus ground she bumped into someone. The impact of the collision sent her straight to the floor. She grumbled under her breath as she tried to get up.

"Yumi, I'm sorry I didn't see you there." the male replied helping her onto her feet.

She gazed at the guy silently.

"Oh, hi William." she sighed as she turned her gaze from him.

"Good morning Yumi, I've been waiting all morning to see you." he said in a calm voice as he smiled at her, "I want to know if you would like to have lunch with me today?"

She smiled a little as she brushed back a strand of her hair.

"Sure," she sighed still thinking of her friends, "but we always have lunch together."

"Well this time it will be different." he waved as he rushed away to the cafeteria.

She smiled as she slowly saw him disappear out of sight. She wondered what he had in mind but decided to ignore it. She walked up to Odd, Aelita and Jeremy who were in the middle of the campus on a nearby bench outside. Aelita and Jeremy were sitting on the bench while Odd leaned on the back of it looking to see what Jeremy was doing on his computer. She hailed them as she came up to the bench standing in front of them.

"Hey Jeremy, did you figure out where Sissy is yet?" she asked placing one hand in her black pants pocket, "As much as I am glad not to see her, I just want to make sure that we don't get in trouble with the principal."

"I'm almost there Yumi, I have just a few more codes to go and I'll find it." he looked up at her with a smile, "I'm thinking we should meet up at the factory during lunch."

"That's not a problem." she smiled.

Aelita gazed at Yumi and saw that she was smiling a little. At least she was smiling for now and not like yesterday when she was sulky all day. She couldn't understand what had caused the two friends to be enemies now. But she realized that it had something to do with Sissy.

"Have any of you guys seen Ulrich?" Jeremy asked taking his eyes off of his notebook for a minute.

"No not me." Aelita replied with a smile.

"I just came." Yumi stated with a frown.

"Oh here comes Romeo now." Odd smirked walking up to his distress friend, "Why the sulkiness there Ulrich, you miss your girlfriend?"

He smiled nodding a little. He turned his attention to Odd, Aelita and Jeremy trying his best not to look at Yumi.

"Yea, I miss her a lot," he sighed bowing his head, "I can't believe she's not here."

'_Now this is repulsive.'_ she thought distastefully.

The others looked at him sympathetically while Yumi just frowned.

"Humph, I doubt he even likes her." she muttered folding her arms across her chest.

Immediately Ulrich gave her a sharp glare almost scaring her. He had heard her statement and he wasn't too happy about it.

"You're just jealous of Sissy because her beauty is beyond yours!" he yelled clenching his fist.

"Beauty?" she gasped almost not believing that he said that, "I'm ten times prettier than Sissy, Ulrich, and you know that!"

"Aren't you the vain one." he muttered so she could barely hear but unfortunately she heard, "It must be her style then because she's a better dresser than you'll ever be!"

"Oh like wearing a skimpy mini skirt and flirting around in front of boys is style," she scoffed, "talk about real class. Yep, she won the Oscar of the year."

She twirled her finger in the air causing Ulrich to growl even more in anger. The others looked at them in shock. Although they had seen their friends argue before it was never like this. It was as if they wanted to get even with each other for some apparent reason. And they did not want to stop either. It looked to them that they had forgotten that their other friends were standing there looking on.

"And since we're discussing style, what about your boy William?" Ulrich started sarcastically as he moved closer towards her.

"What about him?"

"I mean what's up with the combat boots and jeans, is he in the army or does he just like looking like a dork?"

"At least he knows how to match!"

"Take that back this instant, you know that isn't true!" Ulrich yelled getting angrier by the minute as if ready to kill the girl, "Sissy can color coordinate her clothes!"

They continued to yell both coming closer and closer to each other not realizing the distance between their faces when Odd stepped in and pushed them apart.

"Hey, Hey take it easy you two. At least let me get time to sell tickets for the fight." Odd smirked trying to break them up by placing his hands on their shoulders, "I can see it now. Yumi versus Ulrich. Who will break first in the battle of love?"

"Cut it out Odd." Ulrich stated in a monotone accent.

"Yea, I don't need this right now." Yumi sighed backing away, placing her hand on her forehead.

The bell ran immediately stopping them from continuing their all out war. Jeremy, Aelita and Odd left reminding everyone that they were going to the factory at lunch. Yumi and Ulrich remained watching each other with a hateful gaze and then left to their separate ways without uttering a word.

_IN CLASS_

Jeremy and Aelita sat close together in class as he tried to figure out where Sissy was on Lyoko. Odd and Ulrich was sitting in front of them trying their best to listen to the lecture the teacher was talking about. It was boring, and it took all the strength Odd had not to fall asleep. Odd turned his attention to his brown haired friend on his left who was staring out the window as if daydreaming. He thought he should at least ask him what was going on this morning between him and Yumi.

"Ulrich." he started as the young boy turned to him, "What's going on with you and Yumi?"

"I don't know," Ulrich sighed, "ever since she found out I've been dating Sissy, she's been acting so strange about it."

Odd gazed at his friend who was clueless to the fact that Yumi liked him.

'_Wow, how dense can a guy get?'_ he thought with a smirk, _'And here I was thinking I'm the crazy one.'_

"So tell me again, why you didn't tell her that important piece of the puzzle?"

"Odd I forgot," he frowned as he played with his fingers, "it just totally left my mind."

"Well, I guess it happens." Odd smiled trying not to say anything else that would make him mad.

The teacher was still too busy lecturing to hear the students talking amongst themselves so she continued unexpected to what was going on in her class.

"I got it!" Jeremy yelled almost too loud but luckily the teacher didn't hear.

Odd and Ulrich looked back immediately to hear what news Jeremy had found. They turned to him to see that he had his notebook in his lap, typing away.

"What did you find Einstein?" Odd asked curiously.

"Sissy's is still on Lyoko but X.A.N.A.'s holding her in a storage area in sector five." he replied grimly.

"Do you think he did this to get my memory?" Aelita asked in a soft whisper.

"Yea, I bet it is. But we'll just have to wait until lunch to fix this." he smiled closing his laptop as the two boys in front turned around quickly.

They all nodded at each other and then turned their attention back to the teacher. The brown haired lady who was their math teacher continued writing on the black board when someone entered the room. It was Jim, the physical education teacher. He walked into the room with a stern expression as he searched for his culprit. He spoke to the teacher and she gave him permission to do what was needed to be done.

"Ulrich Stern, the principal would like to have a word with you." the plump man stated as he waited for Ulrich to leave his seat.

Reluctantly Ulrich got up knowing what lay ahead. He sighed as he shoved his hands in his pockets and left through the door with Jim. Jeremy frowned as he saw this because he knew for sure that things would be made difficult now. As soon as Jim and Ulrich left, the teacher finished up her lecture and gave her students their homework for the day. The bell immediately rang after that. Jeremy, Odd and Aelita headed straight to the cafeteria to find Yumi but unfortunately she wasn't there. They then left and decided to head to the factory right away before something else happened. Jeremy dialed Yumi's mobile number to remind her of their mission. He waited for a few minutes and then hung up his phone.

"Did you get her?" Aelita asked Jeremy as they ran away from the school grounds.

"No, I'll have to try again later." he sighed putting his phone back in his pocket.

The teens ran as fast as they could through the woods. They stopped when they came to a man hole, looking around they checked to see if there were alone. When they were satisfied they went down the man hole. Once down in the sewer, they climbed aboard their transportation that was leaning on the wall. Odd jumped onto a skateboard while Aelita and Jeremy got on a scooter. They traveled down the tunnel coming to a ladder. They got off of their semi vehicles and climbed up the steps of the ladder. When they reached the top, pulling across the semi door of the passageway they came out onto a large bridge. They continued to run to the abandon building in front of them, inside stood three ropes hanging down from the inside roof. Jeremy and Odd swung across it like a jungle man landing firmly on the ground while Aelita just slid down it, in front of them stood an elevator that had a steel door. Jeremy pressed a button and it opened. Once inside he pressed the red button and it moved down a floor. After the elevator stopped, Jeremy got off and Odd and Aelita headed to the scanner room which was just one floor down.

Jeremy climbed into his chair that swung around as he got ready to boot up his computer so that he could log onto Lyoko. A large interface stood in front of him in the form of a sphere.

"Okay guys, I'm starting the virtualization process." he replied typing in the codes.

"Scanner Aelita! Scanner Odd!"

"Transfer Aelita! Transfer Odd!"

"Virtualization!"

Jeremy smirked as the map of Lyoko shown up on the screen.

"I'm going to try Yumi's mobile one more time so just hold one minute," he replied dialing Yumi's number on the computer system he had installed, "and Odd be on the look out for monsters. X.A.N.A.'s tricky and he knows we're about to stop him. So be careful."

"_Roger that chief!" Odd yelled with a smirk._

_KADIC ACADEMY_

Yumi walked slowly with a black blind fold tightly around her eyes. William smiled as he led her into a certain part of the woods which was still close to the school grounds. He ushered her to sit down on a red and white checkered blanket which was nearby a tree. Slowly he took off the blind fold showcasing the brilliant lunch for two. There were two small paper plates containing the lunch that the cafeteria lady had prepared for the day. Two small candles perfectly placed in a glass container were in the middle with a small a picnic basket set on the side. Yumi couldn't help but smile. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. But she still wondered why. Her feet were crossed while William sat a few feet close to her.

She gazed at her raven haired friend, William. He had black hair that reached his shoulder and dark eyes. He wore a black short sleeve shirt with a red long sleeve shirt underneath the black one. He also wore tight blue jeans pants and brown combat boots. He smiled at her taking out a single red rose from the brown picnic basket.

"Wow!" she gasped staring at the lunch while taking the rose from him, "William, why did you do this?"

He looked at her with a genuine smile knowing the answer to that question.

'_Because I really like you Yumi, don't you get it?'_ he thought feeling a little hurt by her question but he refused to say that.

"I just wanted to do something special for you." he replied instead chuckling a little.

"Well thanks, even though you didn't have to do it." she sighed as began to eat the lunch he had brought for both of them, forgetting about the mission on Lyoko.

William smirked at her as they both began to eat in silence. After a few moments of silence they began to talk about their classes and any other stuff that came to mind. Yumi couldn't help but wonder why William did what he did. She thought he was just being friendly at first but things seemed to be different from the way he was looking at her. She suppressed her smile and looked at him seriously. Something just didn't seem right to her and she wanted to make sure she didn't interpret anything wrong.

'_What's up with William?' _she thought placing her cup back on the blanket, _'Is he in love or what?' _

She looked at the giddy expression he held on his face. She sighed again. William looked for sure as if he was in love and she was hoping with all her might that he wasn't in love with her. She also hoped that he didn't do all this to get her to date him but by the way she felt about the situation with Sissy and Ulrich, she might even consider that possibility. He turned his attention from her and back to his lunch taking in the silence that grew once more between them.

"William, there is something I would like to ask you." she said breaking the silence.

"What is it Yumi?"

She let out a sigh once again and looked at him.

"Did someone put you up to this as a practical joke or something?" she asked feeling anger taking over her emotions, "I know you're my friend. But Ulrich didn't put you up to this to annoy me, did he?"

She gazed at him with serious eyes remembering what happened earlier this morning between Ulrich and her. She waited in anticipation to hear what he had to say to her question.

"Ulrich?" he asked rolling his name off his tongue with disgust as he looked at her, "No one put me up to this. I just wanted to do something nice for you. I've been trying to tell you for months Yumi…"

He sighed holding her hands firmly in his grasp taking her by surprise.

"I've been trying to tell you how much I like you a lot."

"What?" she gasped out of shock not knowing what to think.

"I've tried to tell you countless times but sometimes it looks as if you're more interested in Ulrich."

"Ulrich?" she let out shocked at what he had said.

Sure she cared about Ulrich a lot but he was with Sissy now and there was nothing she could do about it. She gulped trying her best to keep a stern face although William was right, she didn't want to admit it at all.

"Yumi, I like you a lot and I would really be happy if you would be my…" he started but was interrupted by her cell phone.

She motioned to him to hold that thought as she took the call.

"Jeremy." she replied hastily, "Uh huh. I'm sorry, I forgot….yea, I'll be right there. Bye."

She hung up and looked at William who was wondering what was going on.

"I'm sorry William, I completely forgot that I had to do a favor for Jeremy." she smiled a little forgetting that he was saying something very important to her, "I got to go, catch you later."

With that she rushed out of sight. William sat still in his position feeling very hurt by what just happened. How could she just leave like that? He wondered it that was just an excuse to get anyway from him but he then ignored the thought.

'_I don't get you Yumi.'_ he thought sadly as he began to pack up the lunch, _'I guess we're not meant to be then.' _

He walked back to school with his head held down in disappointment.

_THE PRINCICPAL'S OFFICE_

Ulrich sat silently in the principal office with the principal and Jim. It had been a grueling thirty minutes since he had left his last class to talk with the principal. They were interrogating him countless times asking him where Sissy was since he was the last person that was spotted with her. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell them that she was on Lyoko because they would laugh at him and call him crazy. But he knew for sure that she was okay. Looking up at the principal, he sighed. How much more times did he have to tell them that he did nothing to Sissy? But as ignorant as they were they would never listen or understand.

"Listen to me Stern, if you don't tell us where Sissy is, I will be forced to call the police." Jim stated putting his hands on his hips.

"On what grounds!" Ulrich retort, giving them an evil glare.

The principal took out a folder from his desk and placed it in front of the young boy. Jim opened it and showed Ulrich two pictures of Sissy's room. It had been ransacked and her clothes were spread all over the place. The other picture showed a large window which was broken in her room, a large pile of blood lay stained on the glass that was broken.

'_Herb did this, I'm sure of it.' _he thought holding a grim look on his face.

"On these grounds." Mr. Delmas stated with a hint of anger and worry trailing in his voice.

He pointed at the pictures waiting for a response from the young boy in front of him. He couldn't understand what had happened to his daughter. It was not her way to just disappear without telling him where she went. She wasn't the type of child that would do such a thing so he knew for sure that something was wrong. And after Herb had told him that Sissy was with Ulrich, he knew for sure she would be with him. The only problem was when he went to look for Ulrich, he was no where to be seen and then he was more surprised when he saw how his daughter's room had been destroyed. It made him wish that he didn't allow Sissy and Ulrich to date. He knew Ulrich was a nice young man but he was never expecting anything like this. The only thing he could think of was that Ulrich must have done something to have caused his daughter to run away or caused her to be hurt in some way.

"Principal Delmas, I'm telling you the truth." Ulrich pleaded looking directly at his principal who had tears forming in the corner of his eyes, "I was with Sissy, but I didn't do anything to harm her! I'm serious, she's safe."

"Then why don't you tell us where she is Ulrich?" the elderly man spoke almost in a whisper.

"I-I can't…because you won't believe me."

"What could you possibly say that would not make us believe you?" Jim asked absentmindedly.

'_You'd be surprise?'_ Ulrich thought looking the other way, _'I hope you're safe Sissy and X.A.N.A. hasn't harmed you."_

"I have no choice then." the principal stated harshly picking up the phone.

_AT THE FACTORY_

Yumi rushed into the room where Jeremy was sitting. She stopped a minute to catch her breath since her heart was going at a rapid speed. It was hard but she knew what she had to do. She had to forget what William was about to say, also about the attitude Ulrich was portraying with Sissy and just focus on the mission.

"At last you're here." Jeremy stated with a smile while she just nodded, "Head to the scanner room, Aelita and Odd are waiting on Lyoko.

She rushed back into the elevator and headed to the scanner room. As soon as she got out of the elevator, she headed right into the scanner. She walked into the scanner and waited for Jeremy to start the process.

"_Scanner Yumi!"_

"_Transfer Yumi!"_

"_Virtualization!"_

Yumi was slowly virtualized into Lyoko. She landed on the forest ground stretching out her legs to break her fall. She looked around and spotted Odd fighting some monsters up ahead. She ran close up to them and sent her fans flying at one of the monsters taking Odd by surprise. He smiled and waved at her.

"Nice to see you join us." he smirked raking his blond hair.

"Yea, I actually forgot." she smiled sheepishly.

"Jeremy we're ready down here." Aelita stated getting ready.

"_Okay, I'm entering the code. S.C.I.P.I.O.!" Jeremy yelled as a white spherical ball with X.A.N.A.'s symbol on the back came up and took them away. _

They traveled a long distance from the regular sectors to the main memory of the system coming to Sector five. The white spherical ball dropped them on a platform that held the same symbol. The place was illuminated with a few lights lighting up the dark place. The platform was spinning around slightly as the three teens stood with their backs to each other waiting for an opening.

"There it is!" Aelita yelled as the three rushed through the passageway.

They came through the opening and gasped at the sight before them. There were circular platforms, some high and low with a large space between them. The teens let out a heavy sigh knowing that if they fell in the space that they would be devirtualized.

"_Guys you got thirty seconds on the clock, now go!" Jeremy shouted desperately. _

Yumi did a front flip onto the platform while Odd jumped like a cat onto it. Aelita jumped onto it as the platform floated all around the place. They continued in that pattern for a good while until a monster came. A creeper came up behind them stopping them in their position. The creeper looked like a brown snake like creature but it was large instead of small. It fired lasers at them. Odd turned around and sent laser arrows at it.

"Hiyah!" Yumi yelled throwing her fans at it.

"_Hurry up you guys, you have ten seconds!" Jeremy yelled to them from above._

"But I don't see the clock stopper!" Yumi screamed searching desperately for it.

"_It's due east guys hurry up time is running OUT!"_

Aelita smirked a little as she looked ahead there it was, the long behold stopper.

"Jeremy, I see it!"

She ran as fast as she could while jumping on each platform, she tried her best to reach it in time. She could feel the time running out by every second. Finally she reached it and pushed the button. Immediately the platforms stopped moving and merging together allowing them to walk freely to the entrance outside. Aelita, Yumi and Odd left the area and walked through a pathway leading to a ledge. They waiting patiently until the elevator came around, then as soon as it reached they jumped upon it. The stylish elevator went around and around until it came to its destination. The group waited again until the passageway opened. They ran out and came to the main core of X.A.N.A.'s lair. All three gasped as they looked up see an orange globe on a distance

There stood Sissy a far off in a large orange globe floating around. It was the same type of guardian that had held Yumi and Aelita before but this time it looked a lot stronger.

"Jeremy, I see Sissy but I don't think I can destroy this guardian." she whispered.

"_Okay Aelita, see if there is anything in X.A.N.A's memory bank." he replied sternly from above._

"Okay."

She began to click on the clear interface looking for any information that could help them defeat the guardian. Yumi and Odd were standing behind her waiting to see if there were any monsters to defeat. Without warning a laser came out of nowhere and hit Yumi hard. She winched in pain holding her arm, pulling out her fan, she used it to protect her. The laser attacks came faster and faster pushing her back from the platform. Her feet were just hanging on slightly to the end of the level. Odd sent a laser arrow at the monster blasting it away but when he looked to his left it was too late, Yumi was not there. Odd could only watch in horror as his friend fell off of the platform falling to the empty space below.

"Yumi!" he yelled.

_So tell me what you think? Was it bad or good? I really want to know. Take care. Happy New Year!_

_PhantasyDreamer_


	4. The Truth

_PhantasyDreamer: Hi there!! I'm back after a very long break. I hope you guys didn't think I forgot about this story, I just had been more preoccupied with graduating from college for the earlier part of the year. Anyway, that's over and they are other excuses that stopped me from updating like writer's block. And you guys know how bad that can be. I think I've talked enough, so please enjoy the story, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter. _

_----------------------------------_

_Secret of the Heart_

_Chapter 4: The Truth _

_Last time: Odd sent a laser arrow at the monster blasting it away but when he looked to his left it was too late, Yumi was not there. Odd could only watch in horror as his friend fell off of the platform falling to the empty space below. _

"_Yumi!!!" he yelled._

_The story continues…_

"Jeremy, could you get me my vehicle?" Odd asked a little impatient.

"_Sorry about that." he replied bringing up the overboard for Odd._

Odd jumped onto it immediately and flew down as fast as he could. Before he knew it he caught Yumi just in time. She landed on the end part of his board. Slowly she got up and held on tightly to her short blond haired friend.

"Thanks Odd, you're a lifesaver." she smiled as she hugged his back tightly.

"No problem, all in a days work." he replied with a wink.

They flew over to get to Aelita but before they got there a large pink and white monster was slowly moving its way towards her. It had long white tentacle like features that were used as hands along with a white brain like device at the top of it. It slowly made its way towards Aelita and picked her up with its tentacles. A red light glowed from the tentacles as it instantly began to take away her memory, freezing Aelita in a stand still state.

Odd and Yumi continued to travel towards her but the next thing they knew a few monsters started to seep their way through the digital wall. The monsters looked like black and white sting rays.

"Jeremy a little help here?!!" Yumi screamed while still clinging onto Odd.

"_I'm on it Yumi." he stated from above as he virtualized a ride. _

As soon as it was virtualized she immediately flipped from Odd's overboard and onto the over bike. She revved it up and drove in the direction with Odd heading straight towards Aelita.

"_Hurry up you guys the skipazoa has Aelita!!!" Jeremy exclaimed desperately from above. _

"Uh oh." Odd replied looking up at the digital sky, "We have a problem, flying mantis."

"I'll take care of them, you get Aelita!!" Yumi yelled revving up the bike even more as she sped away in the opposite direction.

"Right!!" Odd shouted hastily as he rushed after Aelita.

_AT SCHOOL_

Ulrich frowned. He didn't know how he was going to get out of this situation. What had he done to deserve this? He gazed at the principal and Jim who was too occupied with calling the police to noticed his presence. Ulrich immediately slipped out of the office and began running down the hall. He wasn't too far when he soon made his way to the large doors that led to the exit of the building. Stopping a while he bent over to catch his breath while his hands gripped harshly on the rail. After he caught his breath, he immediately took out his mobile and dialed Jeremy's number.

"Jeremy, this is Ulrich." he gasped a little still out of breath.

"_Ulrich, where have you been? I've been trying to contact you all afternoon!!" Jeremy screamed desperately through the line, "Aelita and the others need your help."_

"Sorry about that but Jim and the principal had me in the office for a very long time." he stated hastily while taking a quick glance behind him, "They think for some unknown reason that I did something to Sissy."

"_WHAT?!! You've got to be kidding me?" the blond asked through the line, "Why would they think such a thing?"_

The brown haired boy frowned. He himself couldn't believe that they would think that he could hurt Sissy. Besides he was her boyfriend after all and he knew he wasn't the type of guy to do such things to a person, much less Sissy. Taking a deep breath he decided to answer his friend.

"Herb told them some lie and amazingly he had pictures." he jumped when he heard a rustling noise through the doors behind him, telling him that they had just noticed that he had left, "Listen, I'll met you at the factory in a few minutes."

"_Fine, just hurry up and make it here quick." the blond muttered as he hung up his mobile. _

Ulrich stood on the steps trying to think of the quickest route to the factory. He knew the only way to escape was through the woods so he immediately dashed off in that direction. He wasn't too far when someone instantly blocked his passageway. He growled while stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Ulrich."

"What do you want William?" the brown haired boy asked miserably.

The black haired boy stared him curiously wondering why he was so tensed.

"It's about Yumi."

"What about her?"

"I don't know what her problem is but she's been acting strange lately and I figured you might know why." William stated sadly, casting his eyes to the floor.

Ulrich scoffed wondering why he would think such a thing when he barely knew what was up with Yumi himself.

"How should I know what's bothering her? I haven't seen her since this morning." he muttered giving William a harsh glare.

"Aren't you her best friend?" William asked getting a little agitated.

Ulrich remained silent because he knew what William said was true. He was her best friend but things had changed so rapidly since he had began dating Sissy. He himself didn't know what went wrong. One minute they were best buds and the next they were like enemies. The brown haired boy couldn't tell the last time he had a good conversation and laugh with Yumi before she found out about Sissy and him and that was almost two days ago. He had to admit it but he really missed the fun times they had but they were over now that he was in a relationship with _her_ worst enemy.

"Look William, Yumi and I are not speaking right now," he whispered while bowing his head, he then looked up towards him, "so whatever problem you're having with her I can't help you."

He frowned as he decided to run in the other direction leaving a confused William behind.

"Ulrich wait!!"

Ulrich ran as fast as he could, heading straight towards the sewer hole in the woods when someone came out of nowhere and struck him hard in the face. He fell to the floor with a loud thump. Gasping, he quickly made his way to his feet as fast as he could.

"Whose there?!!!" he yelled searching for the culprit.

Unfortunately no one answered or appeared instead he was answered with silence. He spun around taking in his surroundings and trying to find out who might have stopped him from entering the sewer hole. He also wondered if they had figured out his secret. The grass rustled and Ulrich took a karate stance immediately waiting to see who would show up. To his surprise none other than William appeared.

He was smirking a lot as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. The glare he had on his face was one of pure anger and hatred. But Ulrich could also see that it was because he was being possessed by X.A.N.A. After all his eyes did hold the symbol of X.A.N.A so he knew fully well that he would have his hands full.

"Sorry to disappoint you Ulrich, but you're not going anywhere!!!" he yelled in a mechanical voice as he sent a punch in his direction.

_SECTOR FIVE ON LYOKO_

Yumi rushed after the flying mantis. She threw her fans at them and hit one. She stood up on the over bike trying to balance herself as good as possible, she then sent her fans at three of the mantis. It blasted away two of them while she jumped on one of their backs while knocking it out. Flipping backwards she landed immediately back on the over bike while tucking her fans behind her shawl. The blast from the attack created a big explosion knocking her off the bike and instantly devirtualizing her. Silver pixels could be seen as she disappeared. Odd gasped upon seeing this and then quickly turned his attention towards Aelita.

"Yumi's gone…" he whispered slowly looking down as he continued to head towards Aelita, "She's been devirtualized."

"_Okay. Get Aelita to Sissy immediately!!" Jeremy screamed desperately. _

In a quick motion Odd jumped off of his hover board and sent a laser arrow at the skipazoa. It released Aelita causing her to fall hard to the floor, while it retreated, backing away. Odd helped his pink haired friend to her feet while she rushed back to the clear interface. She stood silently as she browsed through the files in the databank to find the one she needed. It didn't take very long until she found it.

"I've found it." she whispered, turning towards Odd.

He nodded his head and headed to his overboard.

"Your chariot awaits, my lady." he replied as she jumped onto the hover board with a slight giggle.

They flew quickly towards the large platform where Sissy stood floating in a large orange ball. As soon as they reached the platform, Aelita jumped onto it and headed towards Sissy. She stretched her hands out, gathering up her power to create a duplicate of the guardian that contained Sissy. Collapsing on her knees after a few minutes she looked up to see that Sissy was still in the original guardian, contained and the duplicate was there but nothing had happened. According to her memory the last time she created a duplicate, the original burst releasing its victim. But instead of that happening Sissy stood still captured. Aelita turned towards Odd who was fighting off a few flying mantis that were behind them.

"Oh no it isn't working." she whispered, her green eyes staring Odd with concern.

"What are you talking about?" he turned a bit, still shooting laser arrows.

"The guardian is not disintegrating." the pink haired girl stood on her feet immediately, "Jeremy it isn't working. I don't know what else to do."

_A sigh could be heard from above. _

"_What? I don't get it. Are you sure you got the right codes?" the blond asked a bit annoyed. _

"Yes."

Odd stopped for a minute after the last flying mantis was gone. He frowned while looking up to the digital sky, "Jeremy this is much harder than it looks. It isn't a picnic you know."

"_I know that Odd. Just hold on a minute you guys. I'll see what I can do. There must be a way to defeat this thing." the blond spoke with determination. _

Aelita turned her attention to Odd who just waved at her with a sheepish grin.

'_I hope your right Jeremy.' _she thought sadly.

_----------------------------------_

"Jeremy, what's the status?" Yumi asked, exiting the elevator.

"Oh things aren't looking good right now Yumi. Aelita can't seem to release Sissy." he replied hastily, typing steadily on the keyboard.

Yumi came up to his chair and looked intently at the screen.

'_Man we got to get her out…somehow.' _she thought bitterly.

"Have you heard from Ulrich yet?" the raven haired girl asked surprising Jeremy.

He turned to her with a quizzical expression on his face. She gasped a bit turning her head the other way, her short hair covering her eyes. She didn't quite understand why he had given her that look but she figured it was because she had barely spoken to Ulrich during the last couple of days ever since she found out about Sissy and him. But could you blame her? Ulrich was supposed to be her best friend and then this had happened. She took a deep breath and then gazed at her blond friend whom was adjusting his glasses at the minute.

"What?" she asked sharply.

"I'm just surprised you would ask that." he paused a bit, turning back to his screen, "I mean since you and Ulrich are not, well you know."

"Yeah well that doesn't mean I don't care about him even though I feel like strangling him right now." she smirked, an evil look plastered on her face.

"Right." the blond chuckled nervously, "I'll call him."

"Okay."

The blond boy immediately began dialing his friend's mobile number. After a few seconds the person on the other line picked up.

"Ulrich, where are you?"

"_This isn't a good time Jeremy."_

"Where are you? Odd and Aelita need your help on Lyoko."

There was silence for a moment before Ulrich spoke again, _"I don't see how I can make it right now since X.A.N.A's possessed William and now he's-"_

Static could be heard as Jeremy closed his eyes while Yumi frowned. The connection was lost and that could only mean that Ulrich was either injured or worse, dead. Without warning Yumi dashed out of the room heading towards the elevator.

"Yumi, where are you going?"

"To help Ulrich." she replied sternly as the elevator closed in front of her.

_THE WOODS_

Ulrich frowned as he looked towards the grassy bed where his mobile lay shattered. He closed his eyes in pain while clutching a stick firmly in his hands. He had been fighting William for a while and by the looks of things he was winning. But now William had gotten the upper hand leaving him to fight even harder to escape.

'_Man, William's tough. I guess that's why Yumi likes him so much.'_ he thought gazing at the raven haired boy in front of him.

Without warning William knocked his weapon out of his hand leaving him defenseless. Backing back slowly he knocked into a tree bark. He gazed around trying to find somewhere to escape to but unfortunately there was no place to go. Ulrich closed his eyes immediately while waiting for impact from the metal pole that William held firmly in his grasp. When nothing came his eyes snapped open to see Yumi standing there in front of him with a smirk on her face and a large stick in her hand. He looked to his left to see William unconscious on the ground.

"Yumi, what are you doing here?" Ulrich asked harshly giving her a glare.

He made his way to his feet in a flash while dusting off his green attire.

"A thank you would be nice." she muttered turning her dark eyes the other way. He gave her a frown wondering what she was doing here in the first place, "Go on get out of here. Aelita and Odd need you on Lyoko."

The young boy winched a bit. He could hear the hurt in her voice but for some reason he didn't care. He just gave off a light scoff catching the attention of his raven haired friend. She frowned immensely upon seeing the glare that he shot her way. Who did he think he was anyway, to give her such a look? Did he think she would be happy with him now?

"I'm not leaving until we talk, Yumi." Ulrich muttered looking up at her.

"What's to talk about? Your lies? Your deception?" she asked tugging lightly on her black sleeve, anger trailing heavily in her voice.

"Deception?" he echoed as if not knowing what she was talking about.

Yumi folded her arms while turning her back towards him. She felt so infuriated with him and for a moment she felt like she could hit him…hard. Calming down her nerves she wiped a straying tear from her face and turned back to Ulrich whom was frowning at the moment.

'_I have to be strong. I can't let Ulrich know that this bothers me so much.'_ she thought sadly.

"Yumi…" her dark eyes gazed at him inquisitively while he stuffed his hands in his pocket, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier about Sissy and me but I didn't think you would mind since-"

He started but Yumi interrupted him before he could continue, "Why did you think I wouldn't mind Ulrich? I'm your best friend. I thought you would at least know that I-"

"You what?" the brown haired boy asked as he approached her.

Yumi snapped her eyes that were closed open out of fear. She only realized now that she almost told him how she felt. Biting her lip she turned her head the other way, placing her hands close to her face to hide the huge blush. Luckily for her Ulrich was too angry to see it. But Yumi just couldn't risk ruining their friendship when it was obvious that he liked Sissy. It was not something she was expecting but she was trying her best to deal with it somehow.

"You what Yumi? Tell me!!" he demanded as she looked at his dark brown eyes. They were so intense and captivating that for a moment she couldn't help but stare dumbly at them. That is until Ulrich snapped his fingers in front her face bringing her back to reality.

She let out a heavy sigh, "I don't need to tell you anything Ulrich, just go to Lyoko."

He turned to leave but stopped to see that she had turned her back to him once again.

"Humph, have it your way. I just hope you're happy with William, Yumi." he whispered as he disappeared out of sight.

She gasped turning around immediately to see that he had disappeared.

'_William? What is he talking about?'_ she thought as tears slid slowly down her cheeks, _'Ulrich.'_

_THE FACTORY_

"I've got it!!"

Jeremy smiled contently at the screen.

"I've found the codes Aelita. You actually had the right ones but this guardian need something more." he gave a slight smirk while typing in the codes, "I'll send you them to you now. Hopefully by giving this extra boost, Sissy should be out in no time."

He continued to type on the keyboard when he heard the elevator open. Turning slightly he saw that it was none other than Ulrich.

"Great Ulrich you're here." he whispered as he pushed up his glasses, "X.A.N.A's activated another tower and Aelita and Odd are trying to free Sissy. By the way where's Yumi?"

"I rather not talk about her."

"Alright, then head to the scanner room so I can virtualize you."

"Fine."

Jeremy brought up Ulrich's profile card while he proceeded into the scanner below. He continued to type in the codes as he sent the downloaded codes to Aelita. He then proceeded to getting Ulrich to Lyoko.

"Scanner Ulrich."

"Transfer Ulrich."

"Virtualization."

He smirked when he saw that the downloading process had been completed.

"I've sent Ulrich to the forest region. Did you get it Aelita?"

Jeremy leaned back in the chair while waiting for his pink haired friend's response.

"_Yes." _

_----------------------------------_

"I've gotten it Jeremy. I'll use them now." she replied while stretching out her hands once again.

Immediately three orange globes appeared beside the one Aelita had created just moments before. In a quick motion the four orange balls fused together and blasted into bits while releasing Sissy in the process. She hit the large platform in pain and slowly her eyes began to open.

"Jeremy it worked." the pink haired girl whispered helping Sissy onto her feet.

"_Great now get to the forest region and deactivate the tower." _

"Okay."

Aelita jumped onto the hover board with Odd while Sissy stood on the platform waiting for a ride to be virtualized. She had her hand on her hips while tapping her foot lightly on the floor. Slowly the over wing was virtualized and Sissy was about to jump on it when she was hit by a flying mantis. Both Sissy and the over wing were devirtualized.

"_Sissy's gone you guys. Now head through the clearing and get to the forest region."_

"Roger that chief!!"

Odd sent a laser arrow at the flying mantis and headed straight towards the clearing with Aelita. As soon as they got out of the clearing they came to the forest region to see Ulrich standing somewhere in the clearing almost close to the activated tower.

"Go on Aelita, Odd and I will cover you." Ulrich replied sternly as he took a karate stance.

"Okay."

The pink haired girl rushed towards the tower that glowed red while leaving her two friends behind to battle the set of monsters that mysteriously gathered around them. As soon as she entered the tower, she immediately floated to the top of it and proceeded to touching the clear interface that popped up.

_-------_

_AELITA_

_CODE_

_LYOKO_

_-------_

"_Great Aelita. Return to the past now!!!"_

_THE DAY BEFORE_

Yumi walked out of the pool room with a towel draped around her waist. She proceeded to the dressing room and put back on her regular clothes. She knew they were supposed to go the factory to set up Sissy's profile again but Jeremy had just called her a few minutes ago telling her that they would meet in the courtyard instead. Slowly she walked towards the courtyard to see Odd, Aelita, Jeremy, Ulrich and Sissy. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she gripped her book bag and walked towards them.

"Yumi, finally you're here." the blond haired boy whispered while taking a seat on the bench.

Aelita was next to him, along with Odd whom was leaning his back on the back of the bench. Ulrich was standing to the right of Aelita with his girlfriend Sissy. He didn't try to hide that they were together since his arm was placed possessively around her waist.

"Okay here's the deal." Jeremy started getting the attention of everyone, "Sissy I found out the main problem with your powers. There was a slight bug that I needed to be fix and now that, that's done you can go to Lyoko with no problems at all."

There was immediate silence as the others took in what had been said.

"This afternoon I'll go and reset up your profile again Sissy." the young boy replied with a smirk while gazing at his friends. He received a nod from Sissy and he returned her nod with a slight smirk, "Other than that we have no serious problems to deal with."

"Yes we do."

Ulrich spoke sternly catching the attention of his fellow Lyoko warriors. They all stared at him skeptically waiting for him to explain himself in some definite way. He looked at all of them with a serious expression lingering on his face.

"It's about Sissy." he took his hand from around her waist and placed them in his pocket, "I want to know the truth about what happened on Lyoko and why you guys have a problem with Sissy being apart of the group."

He gave Yumi a glare which only made her frown in response.

'_Who does he think he is demanding such a thing?'_ she thought curling her hands into a fist.

Everyone remained silent as if processing the words he had just said. No one looked in Sissy's and his direction as they contemplated on what to say to Ulrich. Odd was the first to break the silence.

"Well for one thing Ulrich, I don't like this new attitude of yours." the spiky blond muttered causing his brown haired friend to gasp at him.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You know what I mean. Look, you knew far well than any of us that we don't like Sissy." he whispered tapping his chin lightly as if in deep thought. A gasp could be heard from Sissy, "And making her join the group would not have changed our feelings. Did you expect us to accept her with open arms?"

"Yes." Ulrich replied knowing very well that Odd was right.

"Ulrich, Odd is right and you can't blame us for not agreeing with your decision." Jeremy stated making his way to his feet.

He scoffed immediately turning his eyes towards Yumi.

"Sissy also told me what you guys did to her and I just have one thing to say…" he paused, all eyes on him, "That's just wrong."

"Is that all? You're not going to threaten us, are you?" Yumi asked flipping her hair in anger.

The others turned their attention from Ulrich to Yumi. They could see the two teens staring intently at each other and they wondered for a minute if it would be a repeat of the day before. But they remained silent. The glare that they both exchanged was so harsh that one would think they hated each other. Yumi took a step forward slowly breaking the silence as her foot brushed harshly against the dirt floor.

"What we did, Odd and me. We did it because we wanted to and it was out right funny, and I speak not only for myself but for the others too. I know everyone would agree that Sissy needs to leave the group…" she pause a bit as the others nodded, "Ulrich, Sissy doesn't deserve to be in our group. You know she can't keep a secret."

A loud squeak could be heard as all eyes lay on Sissy.

"Lay off Yumi. I can and I will." the ponytail girl retorted instantly grabbing a hold of her boyfriend, "Don't kill yourself Yumi, I've already got Ulrich."

Yumi growled at her. She was about to rush after her when Odd held her back. She relaxed for a minute and then looked at Ulrich whom was still frowning.

"Is that the truth? Do you guys want Sissy to leave?"

He asked but received silence. After a few seconds he heard them answer, "Yes."

Odd nodded with a light grin, "We sure do."

The brown haired boy narrowed his eyes while taking his arm away from Sissy.

'_They'll regret this.'_ he thought clenching his fists, _'They'll regret this, especially Yumi.'_

He contemplated some more on what his friends had said and soon after that he came to a conclusion. If they didn't want to accept Sissy then drastic measures would have to take place. And whether or not he liked it he would have to choose the road he wanted to travel. He let out a deep breath and looked at his friends whom were silent.

"Fine." he paused as the others turned their attention to him, "If you guys can't accept Sissy then there is only one thing left for me to do. I retire from being a Lyoko warrior."

"WHAT?!!"

"You heard me. I'm not coming back." he instantly grabbed Sissy's hand while she stuck out her tongue childishly at his friends. "Let's go Sissy."

His friends watched in horror as Ulrich walked away angrily dragging a happy Sissy behind him. Everyone remained silent while Yumi looked on sadly. Heartache could be seen written in her eyes and face and everyone knew just how bad she felt about his decision but there was nothing any of them could do. He had already made his decision and that was the truth.

'_What have I done?' _she thought bitterly.

A slight breeze blew across Yumi making her shiver in disgust.

_----------------------------------_

_Well tell me what you think. Sorry for the long wait but you guys understand my real reasons. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter because I worked really hard on it. I'll try to update more frequently but I can't make promises I can't keep. Leave a review on the way out. –smiles- Lata!! _

_One note: Anonymous reviewers please check my profile if you request e-mail alerts from me. _

_PhantasyDreamer_


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